Does anyone have any experience, preference or advice on flatbed scanners, specifically when comparing the Canon 1200s vs. the Epson Perfection 1200U. Based on reviews and internet sites I think I will probably choose one or the other of these two. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

-- Curt Ammerman (CurtnMarie@cs.com), May 02, 2000

Answers

Well, the Canon is actually a pretty decent scanner for the money, much better than their cheaper 620U/630U which are horrific machines. Both machines have optional transparency adapters but the Epson is USB, and with the Canon you need to add the SCSI card that comes with it. That may or may not be a big deal for yourself to tackle, and you'll have to have a PCI slot open. It comes with an Adaptec 2903 which is an OEM SCSI card so no you don't need to have a SCSI card already. The Epson is just a simple USB connection but if your using Win95 or NT than go with the Canon as the USB implementation in 95 and NT is nil. For a Mac, I guess it depends if you have USB, again the Epson would be easier and if you own a iMac , forget the Canon as you'd need a SCSI to USB converter just to get it working and thats about another $70. I think that covers everything... oh yeah, Epson has better drivers and software than Canon for the Mac.

-- Cris Daniels (danfla@gte.net), May 02, 2000.